|
|
city top view <--------------------------------------------------------------------------> liquid axis-general view The succession of spaces, Aristotelous square - Aristotelous street – Ancient Agora square - Agios Dimitrios square, develops in a centripetal axis which covers 2/3 of the overall width of the city, from the seafront to the slopes the Upper Town in the North. This principal cross axis is located in the geometrical centre of both the intramural city and the metropolitan area of Thessaloniki. It consists of a complex of public open spaces that make up the framework around which the urban layout of the historic centre is organised, together with main central functions and some of the most important monuments in the city's history. It consists of a succession of rectangular spaces, for the most part symmetrically arranged around a NE-SW axis at right angles to the sea front. Its total length (from the sea to the frontages on Kassandrou St.) is 1,070 m and the width varies between 30 m on Aristotelous St. and 264 m across the square in front of the ancient Agora. The highest point, in Kassandrou St., is 45 m above sea level. Originally created as a deliberate design gesture, the axis has evolved into its present form as a result of specific circumstances (excavations and archaeological discoveries), functional and economic constraints, and ill-considered or uncoordinated small-scale interventions. |
